


Duet for Clarinet and Lute

by cosmic_llin



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-16
Updated: 2016-09-16
Packaged: 2018-08-15 09:59:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8051953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmic_llin/pseuds/cosmic_llin
Summary: Tuvok gives Harry a gift.





	Duet for Clarinet and Lute

**Author's Note:**

  * For [vyrenrolar](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vyrenrolar/gifts).



Dating a Vulcan was turning out a little differently than Harry had expected at first. Tuvok was still his same, logical self, but now that they were together, it seemed like he was applying his logic in new ways.

'Naturally,' he said, when Harry asked him about it one evening, the two of them sitting side by side on Tuvok’s couch, their knees just touching. 'When one enters into a romantic relationship, it is logical to help maintain the physical and emotional wellbeing of your partner, the better to strengthen the relationship overall.'

'So... in that case it's not un-Vulcan for you to have fudge ripple pudding delivered to my replicator to surprise me after a long shift.'

'Precisely. However, in doing so I noted that you have not engaged any of the recommended security protocols for your replicator. I suggest that you remedy this, for your own safety.'

'But then how will you send me fudge ripple pudding?'

Tuvok raised an eyebrow. 'I believe I could override the security settings, should the occasion demand it.'

'But Tuvok... wouldn't that be against regulations?' Harry grinned.

'It certainly would,' Tuvok agreed. ‘But we should not engage in this debate now - we have a limited time in which to accomplish our goal for the evening.’

‘That was one of the most transparent attempts to change the subject I’ve ever seen,’ Harry teased.

‘Nevertheless,’ said Tuvok, with a very slight quirk of the lips that would’ve been the beginning of a smirk for a human.

‘Yeah, you’re right,’ said Harry. ‘I brought my clarinet. Let’s get started.’

* * *

It had been the first gift Tuvok had given Harry. Harry had arrived at Tuvok’s quarters for dinner one evening and found a stack of sheet music waiting for him.

‘What’s this?’ he asked.

‘Something that we can share,’ said Tuvok.

Harry picked up the score, scanning the first page. A duet for clarinet and Vulcan lute. He read the first few bars, humming it to itself.

‘This is going to be beautiful,’ he said. ‘Did you write this?’

‘Yes,’ said Tuvok.

‘Wow,’ said Harry.

‘You are not the only one capable of composing your own music,’ said Tuvok, with a tone of mild disapproval that Harry was beginning to be able to recognise as teasing.

‘I mean, I know that,’ said Harry, ‘but Tuvok… this is terrific! I had no idea! Do you write much?’

‘Frequently,’ said Tuvok.

‘Why haven’t you ever played your own music for us before?’

‘It is… personal. Until now I have not required an audience.’

‘But you don’t mind me seeing this?’

‘Of course not. I composed it for us to play together.’

It was so unexpectedly sweet that Harry dropped the music and reached out a hand to Tuvok. Tuvok took it, and Harry’s heart sped up.

‘Thank you!’ he said. ‘I love it. I can’t wait to play it with you.’

As it happened, though, they didn’t find much time to rehearse that night.

* * *

The rehearsal was not going as well as it might have been. The part that Tuvok had written for Harry was incredibly complex, and Harry had to admit that he was also a little out of practice. The fingering was so challenging and the tempo so fast that he kept getting tangled in the notes. Tuvok was being very encouraging about it, in his way, but Harry could tell that his patience was beginning to wear a little thin.

Tuvok, of course, played his part perfectly every time.

Harry had to admit that it sounded wonderful, right up to the part that he kept stumbling over. It was a lovely piece of music - deep, yearning, full of unexpected harmonies. Harry was a little taken aback by how much emotion there was in it - but then, perhaps that was how Vulcans expressed these kinds of feelings. Better to put it in a work of art and keep it outside of yourself than let it stay inside and threaten your equilibrium.

The last part, the part that Harry couldn’t get to because he kept messing up, sounded almost… joyful. Harry didn’t want to read too much into it - they hadn’t been dating that long, after all, and they were taking it slow - but Tuvok  _ had _ written this for him. Harry couldn’t help feeling at least a little flattered that he seemed to have inspired something so… demonstrative.

They kept practising until late that evening, and then, even though he didn’t always, Tuvok asked Harry to stay the night.

* * *

Harry practised every spare moment he had for the next few days, interspersing attempts at Tuvok’s piece with finger exercises that he hadn’t bothered with since the Juilliard Youth Symphony. It was frustrating, but little by little, he got further and further with the piece. It felt good to stretch himself. He hadn’t paid enough attention to his music since joining Voyager.

But his part sounded empty without Tuvok’s, even when he had the computer play an accompaniment. It just  _ felt  _ like it was supposed to be a duet. Harry got up early in the mornings to work at it for five minutes before his shift, and practised again at the end of his shift before he did anything else.

* * *

His shifts didn’t match up neatly with Tuvok’s for a few days - they saw each other briefly, or on the bridge with everyone else there. But at last, they had an evening to spend together. Harry brought his clarinet, holding the reed in his mouth to moisten it as he walked the short distance to Tuvok’s quarters.

‘I’m ready to rehearse again,’ he announced, when the door opened.

Tuvok looked up with what Harry was now able to identify as barely concealed eagerness. He went to fetch his lute. They sat side by side. Harry assembled his clarinet and fitted the reed under the ligature, playing a few scales to warm up.

‘Ready?’ he asked Tuvok.

‘Let us begin,’ Tuvok said.

And they played. The first part was always easy - but this time Harry felt different, it felt like it was going to be fine, better than fine. The warm notes of Tuvok’s lute blended with the clarinet’s high clearness, and Harry felt somehow closer to Tuvok than he ever had. When the difficult portion came, he played it perfectly, letting muscle memory do the work, concentrating on being in the room with Tuvok, not worrying about his playing but letting it flow through him. And then he’d done it, and they burst through together into the final portion of the piece, the joyful swell of the lute and clarinet in unison, the crescendo that made Harry’s heart soar, the final few bars that Tuvok had written just for them to share like this. The room was filled with their music, and it might as well have been the galaxy.

After the last notes had faded, Harry put his clarinet down, his skin tingling. Tuvok’s hand moved gently towards his, their little fingers just barely touching.

‘Not bad, huh?’ Harry asked.

‘Quite the contrary,’ said Tuvok. He twined his fingers in Harry’s, and something sang between them.


End file.
